Early Annual Reports

52 Pages Posted: 24 Jul 2009 Last revised: 27 Nov 2015

See all articles by Preeti Choudhary

Preeti Choudhary

University of Arizona, Eller College of Management

Kenneth J. Merkley

Indiana University - Kelley School of Business - Department of Accounting

Jason D. Schloetzer

Georgetown University - Department of Accounting and Business Law

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: November 2015

Abstract

Prior studies of annual report timing treat all reports filed before SEC deadlines as similar. We show this is not the case. Nearly 40 percent of 10-Ks are filed well in advance of SEC deadlines, and the propensity of early reporting continues to increase. We find that the firm characteristics associated with early reporting are distinct from those of firms that file on time, and are generally consistent with the costs and benefits of early reporting. We further document that early reports themselves are different from those filed on time. Early reports are less informative, more accurate and complete, and are more likely to be preempted by voluntary disclosures. This evidence indicates that early filers provide faithfully represented information that is preempted by other disclosures, and is inconsistent with regulators’ assumption that providing mandatory reports earlier enhances their decision usefulness. Overall, we find that early annual reports represent a distinct reporting option that has been largely unexplored in prior literature.

Keywords: disclosure; confirmation; audited financial reports; regulation; informativeness

JEL Classification: M41, M44, M45

Suggested Citation

Choudhary, Preeti and Merkley, Kenneth J. and Schloetzer, Jason D., Early Annual Reports (November 2015). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1436538 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1436538

Preeti Choudhary (Contact Author)

University of Arizona, Eller College of Management ( email )

School of Accountancy
Tucson, AZ 85721
United States

Kenneth J. Merkley

Indiana University - Kelley School of Business - Department of Accounting ( email )

1309 E. 10th Street
Bloomington, IN 47405
United States

Jason D. Schloetzer

Georgetown University - Department of Accounting and Business Law ( email )

McDonough School of Business
Washington, DC 20057
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
633
Abstract Views
3,622
Rank
53,877
PlumX Metrics